Exxon CEO “worst piece of legislation I’ve seen since I’ve been on this job”
ExxonMobil Threatens To Leave EU Over Sustainability Rules
Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.Com, November 3, 2025
ExxonMobil would be forced to quit its business in Europe if the European Union doesn’t materially ease its sustainability regulations that impose penalties on companies in case of non-compliance, chief executive Darren Woods told Reuters on Monday.
Last year, the EU formally adopted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). These new EU-wide rules introduce obligations for large companies regarding adverse impacts of their activities on human rights and environmental protection. The EU directive is part of the bloc’s efforts to align companies with which it trades with the goal of reaching net zero by 2050.
The new regulation also says that companies that are found to be non-compliant on corporate sustainability, including environmental impact, could be fined with 5% of their annual global revenues.
ExxonMobil and other companies, including QatarEnergy, the state firm of the world’s second-largest LNG exporter after the United States, have been pushing back against the EU directive and have slammed the new rules.
“If we can’t be a successful company in Europe, and more importantly, if they start to try to take their harmful legislation and enforce that all around the world where we do business, it becomes impossible to stay there,” Exxon’s Woods told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi.
Under intense pressure from companies worldwide, the European Parliament agreed last month to review the regulation.
Exxon, Qatar, and the United States want profound changes or withdrawal of the policy.
These rules and the EU’s “crusade” toward net zero are a threat to the U.S.-EU trade deal, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the Financial Times in September.
Exxon’s Woods has said in a recent interview with Bloomberg that the EU’s directive is “the worst piece of legislation I’ve seen since I’ve been in this job.”
The EU’s efforts to respond to lobbying aren’t yielding concrete results, according to the executive.
“If anything, it’s muddling the language up, and in my mind, opening up the exposure even greater, because you’ve increased the room for interpretation,” Woods told Reuters today.
SENATE ADVANCES PUSH TO OPEN UP ALASKA FOR DRILLING: The Senate voted in favor of walking back environmental protections in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, getting the Trump administration one step closer to opening up nearly the entire region to drilling activities.
The details: In a 52-45 vote earlier this afternoon, the upper chamber voted to nullify the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision issued by the Bureau of Land Management under former President Joe Biden.
As we detailed in yesterday’s Daily on Energy, the 2022 management plan blocked 11 million acres from being available to fossil fuel development. The plan did not completely remake guidelines for managing the NPR-A, instead reversing changes made during Trump’s first term.
Under Trump 1.0, the BLM opened up 82% of the reserve for oil and gas development.
It’s important to remember that a companion bill in the House, introduced by Republican Rep. Nick Begich, will still need to pass before Trump can sign the proposal nullifying the 2022 plan into law.
Read more from Callie here.
From the Washington Examiner, Daily on Energy, October 31, 2025
Owner of AK Kensington Mine Creates North-American Only Mining Powerhouse.
Coeur Announces Acquisition of New Gold to Create a New, All North American Senior Precious Metals Producer
Business Wire, November 3, 2025
The addition of New Gold’s two Canadian mines results in a combined company with seven North American operations generating $3 billion of expected EBITDA and $2 billion of expected free cash flow in 2026 from production of approximately 20 million ounces of silver, 900,000 ounces of gold and 100 million pounds of copper.
“This transaction provides clear and compelling benefits for New Gold and Coeur shareholders by bringing together two companies with similar cultures to create a stronger, more resilient, and larger scale precious metals mining company,” said Mitchell J. Krebs, Coeur’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Both companies are in the early stages of generating significant cash flow after several years of heavy investment. We believe this is an extraordinary opportunity to create an unrivaled North American-only, mining powerhouse at just the right time.